SA Results and......

As I said in the last post, Dr. McFadden sent a referral off to Heartland Center for Reproductive Medicine for a SA (semen analysis) by a Reproductive Endocrinologist for Jeremy.

Jeremy's appointment was June 11th at 8:20 am and was told it would take 6 days for Dr. McFadden to receive the results. We were initially told it would take 14 days for results, so we were happy to hear it would only take 6 days! In the mean time, Jeremy and I had several conversations about how Jeremy was nervous that the results would tell us that he was the problem this whole time. As the usual pessimistic person in our relationship, I was 100% sure his results were going to come back normal.

On June 18th, I was out for for a walk and I got a call from Dr. McFadden's office. I was ready for them to say, "All of Jeremy's results are within normal range!". Instead, Jen said, Dr. McFadden has Jeremy's results and wants you to come in to discuss them. My heart sank. Thankfully she had an available appointment the next day at 5:30 pm or I would have to wait a week since McFadden was going to go on vacation. Of course, I jumped on the next day appointment. Now I had 32 hours to stress about it. My 100% sure thoughts of good results dropped down to about 70%.

Fast forward to Tuesday, the day of the appointment. We walk in and are the only ones in the waiting room. I hear Dr. McFadden talking to Deb (his nurse of 13 years) but all I hear is my name mentioned. Deb comes out and tells me she was told to get a blood sample. Little did I know we were going for half of my blood volume. Ok, ok, I might exaggerate a little bit.... ok, a lot. There was a big vile and a medium size. After I was walked back to an exam room I asked Deb (my nurse) what tests were being run. From what I remember-- T3, T3RU, T4, and TSH (all thyroid related), A1C (diabetes), CBC, CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel is a frequently ordered panel of 14 tests that provides information about the current status of a person's metabolism, including the health of the kidneys and liver, electrolyte and acid/base balance as well as levels of blood glucose and blood proteins), and hemoglobin.

Not long after all the paperwork Dr. McFadden came in to talk to us. He always enters the room with some sort of joke to break the ice. As he sits on the typical circular rolly chair and flips open my chart, he looks at Jeremy and says, you're perfectly fine. All your numbers were within normal range. Whew, what a huge relief! I won't give you all the information about the semen tested since I'm sure you have ZERO desire to know.

I'm sure you are now thinking, ok... now what...

We reviewed the the plan before the SA which was, four months of fertility meds until the next step was decided. Dr. McFadden asked me if that timeline was ok with me. I said yes, then he asked again... "Is it really ok?" we discussed that four months was ok, five or six was not. This is when Dr. McFadden said that if in the four months, I wasn't successful in getting pregnant, the next step was surgery... ummmm, hold up... what? I was NOT prepared for that. This would be a laparoscopic exploratory surgery. I will be under general anesthesia and there will be 3-5 incisions (most in places that won't be seen and small enough to go unnoticed). He will be looking at the cervix, abdomen, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and looking for endometriosis or any other issues that he can put his eyes on. Dr. McFadden asked if Jeremy was going to be here the next four months. This is a very common question for military families since there is always a high possibility of not being home. Jeremy informed him that there was a TDY (kind of like a business trip for the military) coming up in the next couple months. I wasn't really prepared for what was discussed next, but I completely understand the thought process. Dr. McFadden asked if I had any family here in Nebraska with us because he wants to do the surgery while Jeremy is gone so that we aren't missing out on any baby making time. I told him my mom would drop whatever to be here for the surgery so that wouldn't an issue. We moved from four months of trying to two.

We will wait until we have the official paperwork from the military with the actual date Jeremy is gone and I will call up to the office to schedule the surgery.

My head is swimming in information and my nerves are kind of all over the place. I know that laparoscopic surgeries aren't a big deal, but it is still surgery and I will still be under anesthesia. I'm excited for more answers but not excited about the recovery and soreness afterwards. Jeremy is nervous about any type of surgery on me, as any spouse would be. I know one thing is certain, we will get through this and I will always have his support through all of these obstacles.

I do have to say, my friends here in Nebraska are the best. I really feel sorry for people that don't have a solid group of friends. There are none like what the military brings and they have talked about taking off work, making gift baskets, meals and coming to hang out and watch netflix! So, thank you friends! Please be that friend to your other friends. Start the trend to take care of each other. Life is hard and can really suck but with a solid group of people it really makes life so much more manageable during the suck-y times.

As one of my friends, Katie, said to us one night around her dinning room table after some tough discussions and a little wine... "My table is like my life. I invite my friends to sit with me at my table and it’s how I let them in. I fill the chairs with people who love and support me. Together, we share stories and laughs and have teaching moments. On hard days, we come to the table to comfort one another. Open up your table and surround yourself with friends like that." I hope your table can be full of people to share your life with. I luckily, have a full table of the most amazing people!

Here is a good website that explains more about the laparoscopic surgery: https://www.verywellfamily.com/laparoscopy-for-infertility-1960160